1968 Belgian Grand Prix
The 1968 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Spa-Francorchamps Circuit on 9 June 1968. It was race 4 of 12 in both the 1968 World Championship of Drivers and the 1968 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The 28-lap race was won by McLaren driver Bruce McLaren after he started from sixth position. Pedro Rodríguez finished second for the BRM team and Ferrari driver Jacky Ickx came in third.
| 1968 Belgian Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Race details | |||
| Date | 9 June 1968 | ||
| Official name | XXVIII Grand Prix de Belgique | ||
| Location | Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Francorchamps, Spa, Belgium | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 14.100 km (8.761 mi) | ||
| Distance | 28 laps, 394.800 km (245.317 mi) | ||
| Weather | Overcast, Dry | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Ferrari | ||
| Time | 3:28.6 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |
 | Honda | |
| Time | 3:30.5 on lap 5 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | McLaren-Ford | ||
| Second | BRM | ||
| Third | Ferrari | ||
|
Lap leaders
| |||
Classification
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 |  |
McLaren-Ford | 28 | 1:40:02.1 | 6 | 9 |
| 2 | 11 |  |
BRM | 28 | + 12.1 | 8 | 6 |
| 3 | 23 | .svg.png){kind=small} |
Ferrari | 28 | + 39.6 | 3 | 4 |
| 4 | 7 | |
Matra-Ford | 27 | Out of fuel | 2 | 3 |
| 5 | 2 | |
Lotus-Ford | 26 | Transmission | 15 | 2 |
| 6 | 15 | |
Cooper-BRM | 26 | + 2 Laps | 12 | 1 |
| 7 | 3 |  |
Lotus-Ford | 25 | Oil pressure | 9 | |
| 8 | 10 |  |
Matra | 25 | + 3 Laps | 13 | |
| Ret | 14 | |
BRM | 22 | Engine | 7 | |
| Ret | 6 | |
McLaren-Ford | 18 | Halfshaft | 5 | |
| Ret | 20 | |
Honda | 11 | Suspension | 4 | |
| Ret | 22 | |
Ferrari | 8 | Radiator | 1 | |
| Ret | 16 | |
Cooper-BRM | 6 | Spun Off | 10 | |
| Ret | 12 | |
BRM | 6 | Oil Pipe | 11 | |
| Ret | 18 | .svg.png){kind=small} |
Brabham-Repco | 6 | Throttle | 18 | |
| Ret | 1 | |
Lotus-Ford | 5 | Halfshaft | 14 | |
| Ret | 19 |  |
Brabham-Repco | 5 | Engine | 17 | |
| Ret | 17 |  |
McLaren-BRM | 1 | Wheel | 16 | |
Source:[1] | |||||||
Notes
- After the introduction of 'dive plane' wings on the nosecone on an F1 car by Lotus at the previous race, the 1968 Monaco Grand Prix, Ferrari added a strut mounted negative incidence wing - to their lead driver Chris Amon's car[2] and he nabbed pole position, and was 4 seconds faster in qualifying than the next fastest car of Jackie Stewart, though Amon claimed to have performed similar lap times without the wings.[3] Amon's teammate Jacky Ickx did not have wings on his car.[4] The Brabham team also fitted a rear wing to Jack Brabham's car, paired with dive planes on the nose to counteract lift; he qualified 10th.[5] Wings were added to Ickx's car (and many other teams copied the idea for their cars) for the next race at Zandvoort. As 1968 season progressed many F1 teams utilized strut mounted wings attached directly to suspension elements - copying Chaparral sports car practice - to increase cornering speeds, reducing lap times. Ferrari never utilized strut mounted wings attached to suspension, continuing with strut mounted wings mounted directly to the chassis.
- On the seventh lap Brian Redman went off the circuit when his suspension failed and he crashed into and over a concrete barrier and into a parked car. His Cooper caught fire but Redman escaped with a severely broken right arm and a few minor burns.
- Records:
- Fastest Fastest Lap Speed - John Surtees (241.140 km/h)
- Most Races Contested - Jack Brabham (100)
- Fastest Average Race Speed - Bruce McLaren (236.797 km/h)
- Milestones:
- 100th Race Entry Jack Brabham (Driver)
- 10th Fastest Lap John Surtees (Driver)
- 1st Win - McLaren (Car Manufacturer)
- Last win: Bruce McLaren
Championship standings after the race
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
gollark: Why? "Balance"?
gollark: AE2 will just gobble up all your power and flicker on and off lots.
gollark: TE ones, at least, will run fine but at 1/5 speed.
gollark: Yes, but who's counting?
gollark: With sufficient batteries ANY machine can run on 4RF/t!
References
- "1968 Belgian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
- Roebuck, Nigel (October 1998). "Legends". Motor Sport magazine archive. p. 18. Archived from the original on 9 August 2016. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
- "Looking back: 1968 - Chris Amon's unluckiest year". talkingaboutf1.com. 23 August 2011. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
- Lawrence (1999) p.100
- Nye (1986) p.72
- "Belgium 1968 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
Further reading
- Lang, Mike (1982). Grand Prix! Vol 2. Haynes Publishing Group. pp. 66–67. ISBN 0-85429-321-3.
- Lawrence, Mike (1999). Brabham+Ralt+Honda: The Ron Tauranac story. Motor Racing Publications. ISBN 1-899870-35-0.
- Nye, Doug (1986). Autocourse history of the Grand Prix car 1966–85. Hazleton publishing. ISBN 0-905138-37-6.
| Previous race: 1968 Monaco Grand Prix |
FIA Formula One World Championship 1968 season |
Next race: 1968 Dutch Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1967 Belgian Grand Prix |
Belgian Grand Prix | Next race: 1970 Belgian Grand Prix |
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.